Genealogical Resolutions for 2020!

With the new year comes change and excitement for what's to come! For me, not only do I focus on life goals and resolutions for the entering year but I also try to create some resolutions based around genealogy. I spend quite a bit of time (read: a lot) doing genealogy on the day to day, as it is a very important aspect of my life. Creating genealogical resolutions is something I started a few year back in 2018 and followed through recently in 2019 (broken into Part I and Part II).

At the end of the year I also reflect on those resolutions/goals and see where I am with them. Here are the reflections for the last two years:

• 2018 Reflection
• 2019 Reflection

So I figured, why not keep up with this new habit and see what goals I'd like to set for 2020! Here are my genealogical resolutions for the year! 

GENEALOGICAL RESOLUTIONS FOR 2020!

1. Take a Genealogy Course
This is a carry-over resolution from last year and I'll bring it into 2020 because it's something I really want to do. Currently I've been looking at the Boston University genealogical courses, however if you know of one aimed at Latin American/Caribbean genealogy drop a comment! I'd love to take a course crafted for the type of genealogy I'm mainly focused on. Though I'm not sure I'll be able to take a course this year, I'll see if I can register myself in the fall for the winter or spring semester 2021, at the latest!

2. Learn/Practice/Better my French
I wanted to commence this resolution this year, but honestly as a teacher the year always get the better of me, like, how is it already January 2020? I'm not sure how much time I'll have this summer but hopefully I can set some time aside for doing some French work. I still have textbooks/books from high school and college, so I should definitely be able to do some self-studying for now, and of course there's Duolingo, music, and movies as well!

3. Get more serious about my platform
This is something I've been thinking about for some time now. I've been researching for about 15 years and writing on my blog ever since 2011, and I want to take it to a next step. Whether that's getting a (.com) for myself, branding myself better, or putting my name out there, I want to have a more steady publishing stream and reading crowd for my blog. The only drawback is that this isn't a full-time job, so sometimes genealogy or blogging will take the back-burner while I focus on my day job. We'll see what steps I take in this direction, even if they're baby steps, I hope it's some!

4. Revisit my lines from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico
It's been about 9-10 years since I've searched this branch in intensity. I remember vividly when I was in college, specifically the summer of 2009, FamilySearch had released some of Puerto Rico's church records online, and Toa Alta was one of the first towns to go up. I remember furiously searching the church books and finding as many ancestors and connections as possible; however, I was also naïve to some extent. I didn't pay attention much to godparents and the roles they played in documents and in the lives of my ancestors. So I want to go back and research more calmly these documents again and see what I can find. Especially since recently I made a breakthrough on my Rivera-Román line in nearby Guaynabo and now I have some more generations and names to work with that might be found in Toa Alta.

5. Catalog/Keep track searched FamilySearch Films
This resolution is tied to my goal above. I find that sometimes I read, re-read, and sometimes even forget what films I've searched or which specific books and what ancestors I looked for in that specific time. I usually take notes on pieces of paper as I go, which then end up getting forgotten about or lost somewhere amongst other pages/loose papers. So my resolution is to create a digital database (probably Excel/Google Sheets) where I can keep track of the searches I've done. This would include writing down the film number, the church books, which pages I've seen, and what ancestors I've searched for. The further I go back in time with research the more I'm noticing that a lot of towns like Guayama, Coamo, San Juan etc. are getting repeated across multiple family lines, so to hopefully simplify this I want to track this more neatly and more accurately.

6. Continue note-taking throughout my tree
Similarly to resolution #5, this is something I want to better and is slightly different than the resolution above. I want to continue keeping track of certain clues, potential family members, and events in my ancestor's pages. Since I use Ancestry, I keep track via notes on certain events and place links in their profiles when something new comes up. To give you an example, this is my 6th great-grandfather Juan Francisco Correa's page below with links and notes of films I've searched and where I am on these films whilst searching. As you can see the notes get more complicated as the more I search and unfortunately there's a character limit to the boxes so I can't go on forever, but still, it's something that I find extremely helpful and I have posted about it as well in post about being stuck with my Correa branch. As you can see below, I work a lot between both languages (English and Spanish) since I use both fluently and daily.

Notes, Links, and Helpful Comments [Personal Ancestry Pages]

7. Cast a wider net with DNA cousin profiles
DNA has been such a big help for finding and locating certain segments for certain ancestors (thanks DNAPainter!) and even seeing where certain ancestry in my family comes from (I explore African inheritance via various generations in my family via this post). I've been very fortunate to test 2 parents, 2 grandparents, and 1 great-grandfather. In place of my paternal grandparents I've been able to test 1 sister for my paternal grandfather and 2 siblings for my paternal grandmother. My resolution (albeit an expensive one) is to try and add more diverse cousins amongst my tree to help with matching. I've already started this a bit by recently adding a 2nd great-uncle and a 1st cousin, 2x removed via my Magraner-Avilés branch to autosomal testing in 23andMe as well as one of their Y-DNA test to FTDNA. My goal is to continue adding cousins sporadically from different parts of my tree to help fill in gaps of inherited DNA segments on my DNA Painter chromosomes but to also have closer generations to the "source" of certain autosomal ancestry or connections. My biggest lacking side is my paternal grandfather's side since I don't know too many cousins on that side of the tree. Hopefully some will test on their own as well and I'll be able to share and compare with them.

8. Find a maternal mitochondrial descendant of Eglantine Lautin
This one is no easy feat! My goal is to find a descendant that can trace back via their maternal line unbroken all the way back to my 5th great-grandmother Eglantine Lautin, an African-born slave later freed in 1848 who lived in Martinique. The reason being is because I'd like to test their maternal MtDNA (with permission, of course!) to see where in Africa (probably western is my guess) this line will take us. I'm not sure how exact this test can pinpoint either a tribe, region, or country, but I'd like to have an idea of her origins via the maternal haplogroup. In the past I had done some research into possible maternal descendants, but I think this is something I'll need to revisit as well; maybe even get the help from some cousins on this resolution!

9. Try out/learn more Puerto Rican recipes 
This resolution isn't so much related directly (if not indirectly) to genealogy because it deals with inherited memory of culture. A few years back, I began to document in a small book recipes from my family, simple things such as how to make sofrito, how to cook pernil, and how to make arepas with bacalao. A few recipes I can do with my eyes closed like your simple rice, beans, etc. but there are more I want to perfect and others I want to learn. For example, I want to practice more making bacalaítos more from scratch and learn how to make alcapurrias and pasteles. My goal is to learn the recipes and write them down from my own family members, whether that's my mother, grandmother, or even great-aunts, I want to learn how to make Puerto Rican dishes that are traditional and commonly eaten in my family. It's one thing to learn a recipe from a book and another to learn it first hand and in practice with a family member.

10. Try to crack the mystery of the Orozco/Santana branch
This is one of the mysteries that to this day still haunts me - the origin of the surname "Santana" in my Orozco branch. My maternal 3rd great-grandfather Benito Orozco was born out of wedlock but throughout his life and that of his children the surnames go back and forth between Orozco and Santana. To the point where some branches today stuck with the use of Santana while others use Orozco. Recently, I found his baptism record in Las Piedras which confirms he was born as an Orozco but there is no mention of a father or the surname Santana. Equally, the baptism of his son Antonio lists the godparents Blas Orozco and Hermenegilda Santana - coincidence? I need to dedicate some more time to the records of Las Piedras, Humacao, and Yabucoa to see if I can find more to crack the mystery of Benito and his mother Estefanía Orozco, who I have very little information about!

Here's to a productive genealogical 2020!

Reflecting on my Genealogical Goals of 2019

Time sure does fly! It feels like only yesterday I was setting up genealogical goals for 2019, and yet here I am December 31st, 2019 - ready to close out the year! Similarly to last year, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my goals for the year 2019 and see how far I've gotten. If you're interested in my past goals of 2018 - here's the link! Also like last year, I will be answering each goal with "yes", "some" or "no" and explaining where I am with those goals.

Genealogical Goals of 2019

1. Test a male descendant for Y-DNA Avilés - Yes

On a recent trip to Puerto Rico in March, I was fortunate to have visited extended family in Lares, Puerto Rico - the town my Avilés ancestors lived in. Not only did I get a chance to see where my 2nd great-grandfather lived most of his life and some of his lands, but I was also able to meet two men who are direct descendants of my Avilés line. However, this line is said to be "Magraner" and not "Avilés" because my 2nd great-grandfather was born out-of-wedlock, said to be the son of Damián Magraner Morell from Sóller, Mallorca. Their haplogroup falls under one of the most common for European men so no close hits yet. Hoping more will come of these results soon! 

2. Add on my Rivera and Correa lines to FTDNA - Yes

I've recently posted this month about upgrading my Correa line and the current finds the line has... so far there might be some potential Sephardic Jewish origins in this line - hopefully more discoveries to come. I've also added my Rivera line but nothing interesting there so far, currently I have the possibility to upgrade to Big Y-700 for my line and currently considering it though I don't know what will come of it.

3. Continue to learn about my Correa family - No
Besides learning a bit more about my Correa family via DNA, I haven't been able to learn more about my family through records. I've scoured the records in Coamo and San Juan as well as nearby towns but nothing yet. I've also looked at the Carcaño branch and found some other people with the surname in towns near San Juan but I'm also stuck there as well. Hopefully this wall will come crashing down soon!

4. Visit the Archivo Diocesano and AGPR to attain testamentos and dispensas de matrimonio - Yes/Some
Though I was able to find information about my family from both the Archivo Diocesano and the AGPR I placed it under "some" as well because I know that there is probably much, much more to research in both archival places. For example, I was able to find dispensas for cousins marrying in Maunabo that I had no idea about - all related to the Martínez branch of my family that came over from Guayama. This goal is also hard to accomplish within one year because time is limited while I'm in Puerto Rico and there are so many files to search as well.

5. Begin to interview family members - No
I feel like I'm going to beat myself up for not starting this sooner but I need to get on this! My goal is to record older family members talking about their lives and our family and create a digital bank of voices and information before these people are gone. I need to think this goal through next time I am in Puerto Rico!

6. Push all my lines into the 1700s - Some
The generation between my 4th and 5th great-grandparents' would be the branches that be able to reach the 1700s. So far on my paternal side there are many branches that have reached the 1700s, the ones currently stuck at my branches from Corozal and San Sebastián. On my maternal side, my Patillas, Morovis, Vega Baja, and San Sebastián sides of the family haven't been explored into the 1700s - 3/4 of these towns don't have church records online which halts me from exploring deeper into their lineage. I heard Corozal, Morovis, and Vega Baja are becoming available in Puerto Rico via La Sociedad Genealógica de Puerto Rico while San Sebastián hasn't allowed any organization to digitalize their records.

7. Continue reading books about genealogy - Yes
This year I've been fortunate to have read a lot of books but out of the books I've read so far, not many have to do with genealogy. So far I have read: "The Man Who Stole Himself: The Slave Odyssy of Hans Jonathan" by: Gísli Pálsson, a book about a mulatto man from St. Croix who ends up in Iceland via Denmark (worth the read!), "She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity" by: Carl Zimmer, this book was a bit more intense because it dealt a lot with the science of DNA but it was definitely an interesting read. I also read "1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus" by: Charles C. Mann, definitely was an eye-opening book to what life was like in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans, and "Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love" by: Dani Shapiro, which was a very interesting book about a woman's journey of who her biological father is post-DNA testing. So out of 19 books read so far 4 were related somehow to genealogy which isn't too bad. I also read "The Coming" by: Daniel Black and "My 15 Grandmothers" by: Genie Milgrom but the former was more of a historical fiction narrative of a slave's journey through the Middle Passage while the latter was about researching your Sephardic ancestors and I wasn't able to pull too much information for myself, if I count these books this would be 6 books about genealogy!

8. Take a genealogy course - No
For monetary reasons, I decided to hold back on this goal this year but I'm hoping sometime next year or even 2021 to register myself and take a genealogical course. Though so far the courses I've found are not really geared to the Caribbean/Latin America, I figured it's better to start building myself a genealogical resumé which includes a variety of courses. This will give me some more "seriousness" as I continue to make a name for myself as a genealogist.

9. Get savvier with the use of DNA results - Yes/Some
With the use of DNAPainter I have been able to identify pieces of DNA that I share with African Americans with no known connection to Puerto Rico and recently thanks to MyHeritage and AncestryDNA I was able to find genetic connections to Guadeloupe. I'm hoping that this goal extends itself into the next year and I can find out more about my connection to Guadeloupe. I also say "some" because I would like to learn more about Y-DNA testing and how to read more into my results. For example, I recently upgraded my Correa Y-DNA to Big-Y700 and I would like to be able to read more into the results myself.

10. Build stories around my factual evidence - No
Though I set up this goal, I'm not sure exactly how to go about it. Though Ancestry builds a "LifeStory" for your ancestors' lives, it doesn't necessarily touch upon facts based on your country, for me this would be facts from Puerto Rico. For example, one of my ancestor's story shows a fact about the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence which doesn't really have to with his life in Puerto Rico, especially since this time it was a part of the Spanish crown. I need to figure out a way to build facts about my ancestors - maybe creating some sort of timeline with important Puerto Rican facts based around towns and the island's history and seeing where my ancestors fall within that timeline.

This year also marked for me my 200th blog post, as well as 8 years of blogging and 15 years of genealogy which is definitely a lot of time dedicated to this obsessive hobby! In a few days I hope to create new goals for 2020 and explain why I want to follow this goals! Stay tuned and Happy New Year! 

Genealogical Goals of 2019 (Part II)

Continuing from my previous, genealogical goals of 2019 (Part I), here are the second set of goals for this new year!

6. Push all my lines into the 1700s
This one is a bit harder and will take some time, depending on the availability of records. I have been pretty fortunate to push many of my lines back to the early 1800s, though of course this is also thanks to a lot of dedicated hours and hard work on my behalf. A next step however would be to push my lines to the early 1700s and this type of work comes with its limitations. For example, lines that are products of illegitimate marriages and slaves are less than likely going to reach the 1700s, 1) because there was no listed father and with no clue to who he was I could search forever and 2) slaves were  sometimes not given surnames or clues to their origins. For these cases DNA is my next best bet, but again that also comes with limitations. The endogamy on the island plays a hard role in figuring out who matches me where, so it's not like I could test cousins on those lines that are not related to other lines in my family, because so far it almost seems like everyone is related!

Going down my tree, I can definitely identify lines in the 1700s for example: Rivera, Román, Díaz, Mojica (Múxica), Marrero, Vélez, Pérez, Sepúlveda, Román, Magraner, Morell, Padilla, Santana just to give you a quick insight into surnames (these only paternal) I've pushed back to the early 1700s. Yet there are other names such as Mercado, Cajigas, Cruz, Gerena, Ortiz, Vázquez (again, all paternal) that I can not push back due to lack of records currently available. On my mother's side it's also a mix, some lines are pushed back to the 1700s and some still wavering in the 1800s waiting to be discovered. For example, San Sebastián is currently a big block in my research since none of their records are readily available online like how other towns for Puerto Rico are. Hoping though that as more records become available, this task will be much easier. 

7. Continue reading books about genealogy 
This one is pretty straight forward, continue reading books that have to do with genealogy. Recently, I have been able to incorporate reading into my general everyday life again and so hopefully it'll stick and I'll be able to cycle through some genealogy books as well. There are some books I have on my shelf waiting for me to pick them up and read them and some on my Amazon wishlist waiting for me to buy them. A lot of these texts though can be historically factually heavy and thus makes me want to put them down pretty fast because it's too much to digest in one sitting. Hoping I get through some for the year though!

8. Take a genealogy course 
I have wanted to complete this goal for some time now but there are two things that always stop me: Time and Money. I think taking a genealogical course, especially if it offers some type of certification, would be an amazing "genealogy resumé" builder, but I also fear that taking the course won't help me much. Though there are some courses that are geared to the more general approach to genealogy, I have also seen some targeted to mainly North American research - which for someone who does basically all of their research in Puerto Rico, the course won't be very helpful. Boston University does offer an interesting course for genealogy which I think would be helpful but the course has a hefty price tag. Also, I always miss the deadline to actually sign up for the course which bums me out and then I totally forget. I think at some point, maybe in the fall, I would like to try and register for the course and actually take it. Taking it in the summer is difficult since I'm usually traveling or away from most of my genealogy books. I think it's definitely worth the investment especially if I want to later on get an actual certification as a professional genealogists.

9. Get savvier with the use of DNA results
I've always been hesitant to learn from my DNA in-depth because it can be a lot to take in. With testing other family members and tools such as DNA Painter, my goal is to hopefully continue learning more about my ancestors through DNA. Whether it's autosomal, haplogroups, mtDNA or YDNA, I'm hoping that I can take apart my results and what they hide. It's not easy with endogamy but bit by bit I can learn more about myself and my ancestors.

10. Build stories around my factual evidence
What I mean by this is that I want to learn more about what went on in the day-to-day on the island while my ancestors were living there. I know some key dates such as when slavery ended and the Spanish-American war occurred but for example, when were some of the major hurricanes to hit the island? The rebellions that occurred besides El Grito de Lares? What did the different societal classes look like? What other events pushed my ancestors from Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Spain to come to the New World as well. I think some of this information will come from reading more books but I'll have to check around the internet as well and see what else I can learn.

Here's to hoping that I can stick to my goals and before I know it, it'll be 2020 and I'll be reflecting on these goals as well. Make sure to set some genealogical goals for yourself as well! 

Genealogical Goals of 2019 (Part I)

With the new year off to a start, I'd figure I set my new genealogical goals for this year. Similarly to last year, I'll write out 10 genealogical goals I have in mind and what I would like to accomplish through each one. Since I've delved deeper into why and how I want to get these accomplished, I decided to break them up into two posts so I don't ramble on forever. Here are my first five goals:

1. Test a male descendent for Y-DNA Avilés
This one is a goal from last year that I haven't gotten to accomplish yet. There's a few possibilities or candidates here for gathering a Y-DNA Avilés cousin - most of them though to seem to be in Lares, Puerto Rico where my branches have lived for about 128+ years. My goal would be to add them via 23andme, this way I: A) also have some autosomal DNA to compare to other people such as my own family members and help to establish hopefully more connections to Mallorcan cousins and B) Find out which group my "Avilés" should be "Magraner" cousins carry as a haplogroup. I know that I should also add them to FtDNA where many people test for Y-DNA but right now I'll have to think that over. Especially if money is tight, and since I have a goal with adding DNA to FtDNA anyways, as you can see below.

2. Add on my Rivera and Correa lines to FtDNA
This one I'm surprised actually I haven't done it before. My goal here would be to add my own direct paternal line to FtDNA as well as my mother's line. Both of these lines have been in Puerto Rico since the early 1700s and I haven't been able to trace out of Puerto Rico. One, my own, points to origins in Europe (most likely Spain and that region) while the Correa family is tied to either Arab/Jewish populations (I would guess though also most likely from Spain but leading back to the times of the Inquisition or earlier). I know my haplogroup thanks to 23andme however I haven't been able to connect with other Rivera men who descend from the same branch as me. I transferred over some basic results from a now defunct Y-DNA company over to FtDNA but at the low SNPs I have, I can't really deduce anything or find connections. So my goal would be to go up in SNPs and go for a "higher resolution" of my own haplogroup while also adding my Correa family. It would be interesting to see who I match with and learn more about the exact line I descend from. I'm not sure if I should just wait for a possible sale in April or just get started on this as soon as possible.

3. Continue to learn about my Correa family
This one continues from last year as well, before the year was out I reflected on how I was stuck searching for the Correa family. As any genealogists knows, it's never fun to be at a standstill when it comes to unraveling family mysteries and discovering new lines, but sometimes I think it's necessary. It allows us to focus on other branches, learn new tactics for discovering ancestors, and ultimately lead us back to these lines as more seasoned genealogists. For example, since I haven't been able to discover anything on my Correa family yet I've begun exploring a Carcaño family that lived in San Juan during the time my own María Eugenia Carcaño would have been predicted to have been born/lived there. I'm not sure if I'm barking up the wrong tree or actually on a lead, but having this experience will allow me to rule out future families/connections I might try to establish later on. However, of course, I'm hoping that this family's origin is brought to light sooner rather that later.

4. Visit the Archivo Diocesano and AGPR to attain testamentos and dispensas de matrimonio 
These two places I have actually visited before, and digging through my past posts I was surprised by how time flies. The archivo diocesano I visited back in the summer of 2013, which proved to be helpful in learning more about the marriage of my 3rd great-grandparents Valentín González and Feliciana Mojica. The Archivo General de Puerto Rico (AGPR) I visited back in the summer of 2011, the same year I decided to start my blog. Back in 2011 I was 21 and still pretty new to the whole "researching outside of the census" game, I knew there were other records out there but it was the first time I was interacting with state records in person. Since then, I've traveled to Mallorca, used more microfilms, and have learned from other searches into countries such as Sweden, Czech Republic (Czechia), etc.

My goal this time around is to search for some wills that my family left behind on my paternal grandmother's side of the family, this family back in the 1800s had owned slaves and most likely property so I'm interested in learning about what they left behind and glancing into their lives at the time. I'm not sure if their wills are in good condition or even if they are readily available to search but I'm hoping I can get to see them while I'm there in March. Meanwhile at the archivo diocesano my hope is to find the marriage dispensation for my 4th great-grandmother who in her second marriage in 1860 apparently married a cousin and received permission from the church to do so. This is hopefully a post to come in the near future!

5. Begin to interview family members
This goal is pretty straight forward, I want to start recording some of the voices of my living family members not only to have information recorded for future references but to also save their voices. This is one of the things I wish I would have done when my great-grandfather was around before he passed, who was born in 1922. Unfortunately, since he lived in Puerto Rico and I in the United States, we didn't get to see him often and by the time I was older, wiser, and able to travel alone he was already getting sick and didn't talk much. However, there are a good number of his children still alive, my grandmother included, who can help fill in some of those gaps of information and talk about their own lives and his. There are also great-grandmothers I never got a chance to meet that also live on through the memories and stories of their children. I have a sheet with guiding questions for these types of interviews that I'll have to translate into Spanish and I scour the internet for some more questions as well. This is a goal that I feel like is never too early to start anyways, the better their memories, the clearer the stories will be as well!

Make sure to check out my second set of genealogical goals (linked here!)

Reflecting on my Genealogical Goals of 2018

Before the year is out I wanted to reflect on my goals which I created at the beginning of this year. My object for this post is to go through my 10 goals and update where I am with them. Mainly this is a self check-in for myself but also it's a way to see how far I've gotten in this one year with my genealogy. I'll categorize each one into either "Yes", "Some", "No" to know where I am with the goal. Maybe some will be extended into the new year!

1. Posting more on my blog - Some/Yes
Looking to how much I posted this year, so far I have 18 posts compared to my meager 9 posts from 2017. 18 is the most I've posted in the last 3 years but looking at 2014 I posted 64 times! Granted, that year I partook in the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge which forced me to post more. Since then I've discovered more ancestors but I'm not sure I know about their lives to post again for the 52 Ancestors Challenge. My goal moving forward is to continue cataloging the town church records in Puerto Rico that I began this past summer.

2. Test an Avilés male descendant for Y-DNA - No
This goal I haven't been able to accomplish yet but I'm hoping that by visiting Puerto Rico next year I'll be able to meet some Avilés cousins and get one or some of them to test.

3. Search more into my Yabucoa roots - Yes
This summer I spent a lot of time researching my Yabucoa roots. I haven't gotten to post yet about them but I have been fortunate enough to trace most of these branches out of Yabucoa and into nearby towns such as Las Piedras and Humacao. Luckily, Humacao also has church records on FamilySearch so I was able to continue researching them in those towns as well. With these records, my Yabucoa roots have been pushed back to the mid-early 1700s. There's one side of that family however, my Orozco/Santana line, which I've traced to Las Piedras but I haven't been able to find out much more about my 3rd great-grandfather Benito Orozco besides finding his baptism record.

4. Learn more about my Correa family - Some 
Ugh! If you've been reading my blog then you know my struggle with this family. I recently posted about this branch and the lack of motion I've gotten in researching them. I'm still stuck and ultimately I'm going to take a break and come up for some air since I haven't been able to find out anything new. However, I did realize in a few documents - whether by coincidence or not - that "Correa" wasn't written in the document and he was written just as "José (de) León" - his first and middle name. Coincidence? We'll hopefully see soon!

5. Read more books in relation to Genealogy, Genetics, Puerto Rico, etc. - Some
This summer I did get a chance to read more but I also tried to diversify my readings in order to not get stuck in the same genre. In terms of genealogy and related topics I got a chance to read: "Victoire" by Maryse Conde,  "Reunion" by Ryan Littrell, and "The Social Life of DNA" by Alondra Nelson. They were all pretty good books and from different realms of genealogy, "Victoire" dealt more with the story telling/learning about an ancestor and retelling their story. "Reunion" had a mix of story telling with discovering ancestors and making connections through DNA, while "The Social Life of DNA" was mainly based in DNA. My goal is to continue reading this year some more especially since I've purchased some new books recently!

6. Continue to help others discover their ancestors - Yes
This one I think just comes naturally to me since I love to work on genealogy. I've been able to help fellow Puerto Ricans extend their lines and helped out with some American research that goes back to countries such as Ireland, Germany, and Iceland to name a few. This is always rewarding because I can see the happiness and awe of people who are learning about their family without having known much about their roots prior to research. Being able to give them names, towns, or even ship manifest information about their ancestors has been pretty cool.

7. Find an ancestor from Spain - Yes
I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to answer "yes" to this goal! Going in, I knew that this goal was going to definitely be a tough one and honestly speaking I would have guessed the Correa goal to be much easier than this one... but alas, I was able to get this checked off the list! Recently (in October) I posted about my Dávila Cantos family who I was able to trace out of Puerto Rico to a town in southern Spain - San Juan del Puerto. It took a bit of sleuthing and with the help of some indexed records I was able to use what I knew about the family and find their origin. Hoping that 2019 brings more ancestors' origins to light and more names of towns and villages outside of Puerto Rico!

8. Continue researching the Puerto Rican church records - Yes
This one is tied to a few goals above, but luckily during my summer break I was able to do some more research into the church records that have been placed online and have been able to crack some walls. For example, I was able to clear up a confusion between siblings and learn the names of my 7th great grandparents through the death record of Francisco Pérez de la Cruz. This all thanks to the records from FamilySearch and I know there is more out there to research as well!  

9. Begin planning a trip to Martinique and Guadeloupe - No
I'm not too mad about this one haha. This is definitely a long term goal that will go on for some years but I should definitely start an excel with places/towns I want to visit along with monuments, museums, etc. I love planning travels so this is definitely something I'll look forward to but I have some other things I want to get down first before I go, for example practicing and learning some more French!

10. Research more into my African/Taíno roots - Some/Yes
This is something that though I haven't been able to read about, I know I have learned more about through research. For example, learning that many of my ancestors were labeled pardo libre is interesting and eye-opening, especially for a fairly light-skinned Puerto Rican who gets weird stares sometimes when I say I'm Puerto Rican. I was able to breakdown my African percentages based off my parents' and some family members' results on AncestryDNA, but I still would love to learn the name of some of the countries in Africa my slave ancestors came from, but again, this is something that will take time. However, with learning more about my Yabucoa roots I have been able to trace my direct maternal line to an ancestress that lived in the early 1700s and she carried my current haplogroup which is an indigenous group found in the Caribbean. So this is something that though I have been able to accomplish I hope to continue learning more about through my research.

Overall, I think it's been a pretty good genealogical year! There have been other things that have occurred this year that don't fit into my goals but have been good milestones nonetheless. Using new tools to learn about my ancestry such as DNA Painter and Geno 2.0, as well as connecting with a genetic cousin (and friend!) with roots in Sóller, Mallorca (Magraner line) have been pretty memorable things from this year as well. I'm thinking of creating some new goals for this upcoming year to help guide me for what I want to get accomplished. What did you get to accomplish genealogically this year? 

Genealogical Resolutions of 2018!

2018 [Google Images]

It's been a while since I've posted but I wanted to start out the New Year with some genealogical resolutions that hopefully will kickstart my 2018 genealogical year! So here's a list of 10 things I would love to accomplish throughout the year, whether it's a one time thing or progressively done throughout the year, I've added it to the list in no specific order!

My 10 Genealogical Resolutions of 2018

1. Post more on my blog ─ Looking back on previous years, I've noticed that I've posted much more. With trying to balance work and a personal life, it's hard to add a genealogy blog into the mix. My goal is to hopefully write more about my genealogical searches. Even though something might seem mundane, it could be helpful for someone else to read or even a good note for myself in the future looking back on a search or theory. I want to post in Spanish as well and open up my audience more but also trying to find an easy way of separating yet combining both of those worlds. Any ideas are surely welcomed!

2. Test an Avilés male descendant for Y-DNA ─ I've been wanting to do this one for a while now! I have a few great-uncles and cousins that fall into this category. Problem is most of them still live in the mountains in Lares, Puerto Rico which means I have to make my way over there to see them and ask for some help with the research. Ultimately my goal is to try and find out whether or not Damián Magraner Morell is truly my 3rd great grandfather and use Y-DNA to confirm this. I would need a Magraner descendant to test as well but I'm taking this one step at a time 😉

3. Search more into my Yabucoa roots ─ This one is tied into another goal a bit more down but I want to search more about my roots in the town of Yabucoa. I was fortunate to visit the town with my grandmother (her birth town) and look around a bit but I want to take a deeper look into my ancestry there. Most of my family is labeled "mestizo", "mulato", or "pardos libres" in this town so I want to see if I can start to identify ancestors that specifically carried these genes and even some who were previously slaves or natives from Yabucoa. With the recent release of Yabucoa church records, I've been slowly but surely making my way through some of the records but since they're mostly not indexed it takes a painstakingly one-by-one view of them to make sure I'm not jumping over any important ones!

4. Learn more about my Correa family ─ Similarly with the release of the Coamo church records on FamilySearch, I need to peruse these books as well for my Correa ancestors. These are a tricky bunch of ancestors because they've moved from San Juan to Coamo and then Salinas, but luckily I've been able to mainly track every generation in those towns. Now the challenge becomes finding them in San Juan and figuring out where their origin lies. Especially since my grandfather's Y-DNA haplogroup is commonly found amongst Jews/Arabs, I'm interested in learning more about this specific line and their journey to Puerto Rico.

5. Read more books in relation to Genealogy, Genetics, Puerto Rico, etc. ─ With work being work, it's been a bit difficult trying to add books into my life. Now that I drive to work, I don't have the luxury of reading on the bus like I did 4-5 years ago. I have to intentionally add time into my day to read or otherwise I'll find perfect excuses for not reading. I want to widen my knowledge more in a lot of different genealogical fields so I'm trying to read some books here and there. I picked one up on native genes/genealogy and need to continue reading! Definitely going to be one of the harder goals since researching comes naturally to me, where as setting aside time for reading is a bit harder nowadays. Hoping I'll even post of the books here if they're good books to read!

6. Continue to help others discover their ancestors ─ This one isn't focused on me (luckily!) but it's something that I want to continue doing which is trying to help others with their research as well. Whether it's getting started, trying to knock down a brick wall, or giving some advice… I want to continue being involved with helping others the same way others have helped me as well. I'm also trying not to limit myself as well, recently I've been helping some friends with Jewish genealogy is Eastern Europe and it's taught me a lot about record searching there and even helping some friends with German/Austrian research as well… which has led me down a dark path of teaching myself to read old 19th/18th century German handwriting (check out Sütterlin to see how insane I am haha).

7. Find an ancestor from Spain ─ No doubt this is a hard one! I think ultimately I still want that "aha" moment where I was able to discover an ancestor by myself from Spain. Finding my ancestors from Guadeloupe and Martinique was an amazing albeit initial struggle to place all the pieces together and highly rewarding. I also think I just want to give myself another place to travel when I return to Spain.

8. Continue researching the Puerto Rican church records ─ This goal is tied into my #3 and #4 about using the church records to continue my searches in Yabucoa and Coamo but ultimately it's to use all church records to continue finding out more. It's interesting because even some of the church records after 1885 when the Civil Registry took over in Puerto Rico contain interesting pieces of information that otherwise were not included in the Registry. Other towns like Yauco have also been a goldmine of information on my ancestors and I need to keep digging in this records to find out more. And create a better system of what I have seen and what I have not seen so I'm not repeatedly searching the same records over and over again. Also checking neighboring towns is a good idea for finding branches that have gone off to live in neighboring towns that can give me some more insight to my ancestors.

9. Begin planning a trip to Martinique and Guadeloupe ─ This one is in NO WAY going to occur this year but it's something I want to start thinking about more deeply. My goal is to visit these islands sometime when I have vacation but before that I would love to up my French proficiency so that I'm able to travel the island without hesitating to speak with the locals. This would require me to study more French but also start looking into different routes I'd like to take and even possible research while on the islands. These are also costly trips so definitely making sure I'm saving up for them as best as possible to give myself the best genealogical trip while I'm there.

10. Research more into my African/Taíno roots ─ Last, but certainly not least, I want to learn more about my ancestors who were native to Puerto Rico and to the various countries in Africa. A lot of knowledge has been lost throughout the generations of colonialism, slavery, and genocide and it's important to bring that information to the forefront and make sure that I am not only honoring my Spanish ancestors but also those who had to endure so much for me to be here. What regions of the Taíno Cacique systems did my ancestors live in? What was life for my ancestors of color in the 16th and 17th century in Puerto Rico? What was intermarriage like on all levels on the island and what did it mean for them as a community? I know finding out specific African countries is difficult and the closest we've gotten is through the AncestryDNA test but I want to learn more about these ancestors and try to begin pinpointing more about their journeys and lives. It's important to keep these ancestors' names on the tip of my tongue and not just the Spanish towns and last names the majority of DNA resembles.

So for now that's it! It's actually a much longer post than I originally envisioned but glad that I've gotten one foot in the door for the 2018 year!